June 23, 2001

9:54 AM

Disney's Atlantis ripped from the anime movie Nadia.Talk about role reversal (you see, a lot of anime creators style comes from trying to emulate Disney style in the early days of the genre) this site presents some interesting evidence that Disney's summer blockbuster is a complete copy of an earlier film released in 1990 in Japan.
posted by Brilliantcrank (9 comments total)

Hate to mention this, but...
posted by crog at 9:56 AM on June 23, 2001

Ah, crap. I did a search for the link. Didn't think about seaching for the topic.

Mybad.
posted by Brilliantcrank at 10:02 AM on June 23, 2001

All double-post comments aside -- no, Disney's Atlantis is not a rip. I've seen both, and they are absolutely different.

I recommend Nadia, incidentally, if it comes to a choice between the two. That said, Disney's flick does have its moments (toward the end there was one scene that sent chills up and down my spine).
posted by Kikkoman at 10:04 AM on June 23, 2001

and nadia, too, was heavily influenced by yet another work: 20,000 leagues under the sea, by jules verne.
posted by moz at 10:07 AM on June 23, 2001

There's a huge difference between "strikingly similar to" and "complete copy of". Of course, the page's author starts right out making sure you know that. It's like the issue of whether Glen Larson deliberately ripped off Star Wars when creating Battlestar Galactica. Sure, he had notes demonstrating the general ideas of his show going back way before Lucas even began production. But the concept, the look, the special effects all drew directly on things popularized by Star Wars. In a creative sense, it may not have been a rip-off, but it certainly was in a business sense. The only difference is that the latter is not illegal.
posted by dhartung at 10:51 AM on June 23, 2001

someone was telling me a anime with a lion in it name Kimba that was supposed to be very similar to The Lion King and Simba.... i dunno
posted by Satapher at 1:23 PM on June 23, 2001

sata, that is also true. kimba's a lot older, though. ('70s i think.)
posted by moz at 1:46 PM on June 23, 2001

I've seen episodes of Kimba, and The Lion King is a rip-off, no buts about it. People have gotten expelled from universities for less egregious acts of plagiarism!
posted by lia at 10:00 PM on June 23, 2001

Rip-off of Japanese animation? Nah, Disney wouldn't do something unethical like that...
posted by Bixby23 at 11:42 PM on June 24, 2001